COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS; Symantec to Acquire Peter Norton

By LAWRENCE M. FISHER, Special to The New York Times

Published: May 15, 1990

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14—
The Symantec Corporation, a software company in Cupertino, Calif., said today that it had agreed to acquire Peter Norton Computing Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif. for Symantec common stock valued at about $70 million.

Peter Norton is a leading developer of utility software, which is used to index hard disks and to perform other management tasks on computer systems.

Under the merger, which is expected to be completed in August, Peter Norton, founder and chairman of the company bearing his name, will become a member of the board of Symantec. He will also be the company's largest shareholder, with about 30 percent of shares outstanding. Mr. Norton will continue to be active in product development.

Symantec shares rose today by $1, to $22.50, in over-the-counter trading. Peter Norton is not traded publicly. Peter Norton had been planning a public stock offering when it was approached by Symantec with a merger proposal, Mr. Norton said. ''We weren't looking to get acquired,'' he said. ''Symantec beat our door down and convinced us this makes sense.''

One big attraction of the deal was Symantec's large corporate sales force, Mr. Norton said. Peter Norton was creating a direct sales team and will now be able to benefit from Symantec's team.

Symantec has acquired a number of software companies, but none of the size of Peter Norton, which with 1989 revenues of about $25 million and projected 1990 revenues of $35 million to $40 million, will add about 50 percent to Symantec's sales.

''The addition of Norton's products will strengthen Symantec's product line and solidify our offering in the system software utilities business,'' Gordon E. Eubanks, Symantec's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Jeff Tarter, publisher of Softletter, a trade publication, said the Symantec sales force was well suited to Peter Norton because it had experience selling utility software and a range of relatively low-cost programs, rather than a single big ticket item, like dBase or Lotus 1-2-3. ''I think it's a wonderful fit,'' he said. The merger, he said, ''basically accomplishes the same thing as going public, and at a very good price.''

Ron Posner, who recently joined Peter Norton as president and chief executive, will become a director of Symantec and will remain with the company at least through the transition phase, he said.